My Wii U Impression as of Now... Meh



Since Nintendo’s conference, there has been quite a lot of buzz about Nintendo’s new console, both positive and negative. There are many Nintendo fans and core gamers on various message boards and elsewhere that seem to be praising it as the second coming, boasting its relatively strong hardware muscle and solid library, and on the opposite end of the spectrum, you some gaming traditionalists and Wii fans proclaiming that the sky is falling and Nintendo is DOOM3D!!!1 So where do I stand? I guess you can say somewhere in the middle.

On the one hand, I am somewhat disappointed in the lack of ingenuity of the WiiU compared to the Wii. Ok, so the thing has an Ipad for a controller. That's nice, but what does that function really do different than the DS? More importantly, how can it improve, or inspire games? With the Wiimote, I really felt genuinely excited for its potential (which sadly, was never quite realized). Gamers’ imaginations ran wild. More importantly, the Wiimote was inviting for the average non-gamer and brought greater accessibility along with greater immersion. With the WiiU controller, I see the opposite. I see a large clunky awkward device that will probably deter the average consumer rather than draw them in. It just seems like a giant albatross to me. You can’t even use it as a portable console.

Once you get past the giant touch screen gimmick, which I don’t believe will be a significant game game changer, you essentially just have the Wii HD that analyst Patcher has been going on about, and that Nintendo has been straying from, until now. And I'm not sure it's even wise to make a console in a way Patcher describes, because, let's face it, the guy's track record on gaming analysis isn't exactly enlightened. So Nintendo has finally given in to all the pressure from third parties and gaming media, and has created this console essentially to become “cool” again, sticking with the status quo in an attempt to get a bigger slice of the third party pie that its older brother Wii missed out on. Wii was a huge risk, which paid off. I guess I expected Nintendo to take a similar risk with their next console, but they decided to play it safe. And no, I don't exactly consider a tablet controller to be revolutionary. I guess Nintendo has gone from Revolution (remember that awesome code name of the Wii?) back to a simple Evolution. Some may be fine with that. Me? I'm not so sure...

Maybe it’s just because they didn’t show any games for the console, but I have never felt so indifferent about a new Nintendo console. And I think many feel the same way. The lack of games announced for WiiU just left me feeling empty.

Ok, now that the Debbie Downer stuff is out of the way, here is what I like about the new console:

The screen controller can certainly allow for some more complex games on consoles, such as RPGs with many tactial moves to make like Dragon Age, as well as strategy and RTS games. This is exciting for me because I’ve been looking for a way to play quality RTS games on a home console. Imagine a pokemon MMO similar to WoW using the screen for easilly accessing move with you “hotbar.” It’s also relieving that Nintendo is going to continue to support the original Wiimote, leaving the opportunity to continue to create motion plus games for their next console.

Also, Nintendo finally seems to have some strong third party support, which was their primary weakness with the Wii. If they can keep a good flow of 1st party games along with the strong third party support, they will do alright, no matter how useless the screen on the controller is. So I’m inclined to reserve some judgment until I seethe games. Games are what will make or break the console after all. Even the games we know about now look better than the vast majority of Wii's third party titles. Remember Red Steel, Bug Island, Ninja Bread Man?? *BARF*

Finally, it’s encouraging to see a Mario game for WiiU in the style of the classic 2D games, assuming the game truly IS brand new and isn’t merely a cheap rehash of previous New Super Mario Bros games. Nintendo needs to keep at these old school type games,  because it's what Nintendo does best, and because there is a HUGE market out there for them, that are largely being ignored aside from a few indie/downloadable games here or there.


In the end, I feel this console will recieve decent sales, based largely off the strength of catering more to core gamers and having stronger third party support, but will be a major decline from the success from the Wii received as a result of alienating a good part of its audience. It will be the as the SNES was to the NES, a console with emphasis on horsepower and sophistication – with a sustaining upgrade that is more adored by the core gamers. Also like SNES, it will probably also have a stronger library for the core gamer, but will see a slide in sales from its more limited appeal. I suppose this can be a good or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.

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